USING MIND-MAPS TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES NGUYỄN HOÀNG PHI USING MIND-MAPS TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

NGUYỄN HOÀNG PHI

USING MIND-MAPS TO IMPROVE THE

STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS

AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HANOI, 2019

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

NGUYỄN HOÀNG PHI

USING MIND-MAPS TO IMPROVE THE

STUDENTS’ READING SKILLS

AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

Field: English Language Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Bùi Thị Thục Quyên, Ph.D

HANOI, 2019

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DECLARATION BY AUTHOR

I certify this thesis entitled “USING MIND MAPS TO IMPROVE THE STUDENT’S READING SKILLS AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY” is my own study All statements in this thesis which are not

my own will be shown in the list of references

Author’s signature

Nguyễn Hoàng Phi

APPROVED BY Suppervisor

Bùi Thị Thục Quyên, Ph.D Date: ………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Bùi Thị Thục Quyên, Ph.D who gave me precious guidance, assistance and encouragement during the time of conducting this study

I also want to express my sincere thanks to all my students at Dong Nai Technology University for their contribution in completion this research

Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my beloved family for supporting me during the time of my study

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Research Methods 4

1.7 Structure of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Theoretical review 6

2.1.1 Reading 6

2.1.2 Reading skills 9

2.1.3 The mind map technique 13

2.2 Previous studies 18

2.3 Chapter summary 20

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 The research settings 22

3.2 Research Design 22

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3.3 Population and Sample 23

3.4 Data collection instruments 24

3.4.1 Test 24

3.4.2 Questionnaire 25

3.5 Data analysis procedures 25

3.5.1 The analysis of test 25

3.5.2 The analysis of questionnaire 26

3.6 Chapter summary 26

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 27

4.1 Data analysis of Test 27

4.1.1 Data description 27

4.1.2 Data Analysis 34

4.2 Analysis of Questionnaire 39

4.3 Discussion 59

4.4 Chapter summary 60

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 62

5.1 Recapitulation 62

5.1 Concluding Remarks 62

5.3 Implications 63

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 63

REFERENCES 65

Appendix 1: Questionnaire I Appendix 2: PRE-TEST and POST-TEST V

1 Pre-test V

2 Post – test VIII Appendix 3: Lesson Plans XI

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ABSTRACT

This is an experimental research about reading skills at Dong Nai Technology University Its objective are to find out students’ perception about reading and mind maps as well as find out whether mind maps can help students in improving their reading skills or not The data were collected through test and questionnaire The test included pre-test and post-test were delivered before and after the experimental teaching for both control class and experimental class The questionnaire was delivered only to experimental class before and after the treatment The results of this study showed that mind maps technique really helps in improving the students’ reading skills

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1.1.1: The results of pre-test score 29

Table 4.1.1.2: The results of post-test score 31

Table 4.1.1.3: The results of gained score 34

Table 4.1.2.1: The t-test of Pre-test 345

Table 4.1.2.2: The t-test of Post-test 347

Table 4.1.2.3: The t-test of Gained scores 348

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.2.1.1: Reading habit before the experimental teaching 39

Figure 4.2.1.2: Reading habit after the experimental teaching Error! Bookmark not defined Figure 4.2.2.1: Student’s excitement before the treatment 41

Figure 4.2.2.2: Student’s excitement after the treatmentError! Bookmark not defined Figure 4.2.3.1: Reading’s importance before the experimental teaching 42

Figure 4.2.3.2: Reading’s importance after the experimental teaching Error! Bookmark not defined Figure 4.2.4.1: Getting main idea before the treatment 44

Figure 4.2.4.2: Getting main idea after the treatment Error! Bookmark not defined.5 Figure 4.2.5.1: Comprehension ability before the treatment 45

Figure 4.2.5.2: Comprehension ability after the treatment Error! Bookmark not defined Figure 4.2.6.1: Reviewing the material habit before the treatment 47

Figure 4.2.6.2: Reviewing the material habit after the treatment 48

Figure 4.2.7.1: Before applying Mind maps 48

Figure 4.2.7.1: After applying Mind maps 49

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Figure 4.2.8.1: Color and images effectiveness before the treatment 50Figure 4.2.8.2: Color and images effectiveness after the treatment 51 Figure 4.2.9.1: Information organizing before the experimental teaching 51

Figure 4.2.9.1: Information organizing after the experimental teaching Error! Bookmark not defined

Figure 4.2.10.1: Vocabulary improvement before the experimental teaching 53Figure 4.2.10.2: Vocabulary improvement after the experimental teaching

Error! Bookmark not defined

Figure 4.2.11.1: Saving time opinion before the treatment 54

Figure 4.2.11.2: Saving time opinion after the treatmentError! Bookmark not defined

Figure 4.2.12.1: Getting genaral idea ability before the treatment 56

Figure 4.2.12.2: Getting genaral idea ability after the treatment Error! Bookmark not defined

Figure 4.2.13.1: Confident feeling before the experimental teaching 58

Figure 4.2.13.2: Confident feeling after the experimental teaching Error! Bookmark not defined.9

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

English is an international language and it plays an important role in our daily life nowadays In Vietnam, English is used as a foreign language and it

is taught as a compulsory subject at all levels of educational system from kindergarten to university

As we know, there are four skills taught in English teaching and learning process They are reading, speaking, listening and writing Reading is one of the essential skills that need to be mastered when learning English as Nunan (2003, p.69) states that “Reading is an essential skill for learners of English as

a second language For most of these learners it is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success not only in learning English, but also in learning in any content class where reading in English is required With strengthened reading skills, learners will make greater progress and development in all other areas of learning”

In addition, reading is not an easy skill to master because it cannot be separated from comprehension If the learners do not understand the text, they cannot achieve the information from the text they read The reading activity requires the learners’ knowledge in identifying the structure and the main topic of the text

Moreover, most of the best books are written in English, to reach the useful information, students need to be good at English to comprehend Especially, they need to develop their reading skills to get the knowledge easily

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After three years of teaching at Dong Nai Technology University, the researcher realized that the reading skills of the students here are still low Most of them supposed that the reading lessons are the most boring part in English They are not very patient with the texts, especially the long texts The first things they do when are asked to do a reading task is looking up all the new words to make sure that they understand the meaning of all words and doing the tasks then It often takes them a lot of time to do such a task So they usually feel bored with the texts or even they fear for reading texts

Based on the facts above, the researcher would like to find a better way

to make students more interested and motivated in reading activity Thus, they can comprehend the text easily and gradually improve their skills in reading

In this case, the researcher chooses mind maps technique because when using mind maps, the learners can speed up their think rapidly and develop their think quickly Moreover, mind maps gives easy way for the students to plan, communicate, be creative, arrange, and explain the ideas quickly It also facilitates the students to understand a complicated system or structure because mind map delivers the students to be focused on the ideas (Indrayani, 2014)

Therefore, the researcher conducts this study to mainly find out whether mind maps technique have an effect on improving the reading skills of the students at Dong Nai technology or not because their skills of reading are quite low

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1.2 Aims of the study

In line with the purposes of this study is to find out whether mind-maps have any effectiveness on improving the reading skills on the students The main aim of this study is to find out the attitude of the students toward reading and mind maps technique as well as to explore whether the mind map technique can improve the students’ results in reading tests at Dong Nai Technology University

1.4 Scope of the study

The focus of this study is on using mind maps to improve the students’ reading skills at Dong Nai Technology University After teaching at this university for more than 3 years the researcher recognized that the students usually have difficulties in learning English, especially their reading skills They are not very interested in reading lessons, they often get bored with long reading text since they do not really understand what the text about They may not have sufficient vocabularies to understand the text or reading strategy to comprehend it easily So the researcher would like to find a good way to help them overcome those problems

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The subjects of this study are 61 second year students come from two classes that the researcher is teaching They are going to participate in doing the test and respond to the survey questionnaire

1.5 Significance of the study

At Dong Nai Technology University, the students have to self-study a lot

to do the assignment that the lectures gave They have to read books from the library or on the internet As mentioned before, the reading skills of the students at this university are quite low so this study was expected to provide some advantages for both students and teachers in teaching and learning process

For the students, this study is hoped that it would figure out the benefit

of mind maps to help the students feel more interested and active in reading classroom activity Therefrom, they can take the most advantages of mind maps technique to motivate themselves in joining the teaching and learning process so that they can improve their reading skills to comprehend the text easier

To the teachers, this research is expected to be helpful in improving the teachers’ teaching skills in order to create an exciting atmosphere during the class time to gain the best results of reading teaching and learning activity

1.6 Research Methods

This study was an experimental research The data were collected by means

of test (pre-test and post-test) and questionnaire The details would be presented in the Chapter 3

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1.7 Structure of the study

The study will be divided into five chapters:

o Chapter 1: Consisted of rationales, aims, research questions, scope, the significance, the methods and the structure of the study

o Chapter 2: Provides the definition of reading, reading skills, the mind mapping technique and the previous studies

o Chapter 3: This chapter describes the research setting, research design, population and sample, data collection instruments and data analysis procedures

o Chapter 4: “Findings and Discussions”, offers the data analysis from test, questionnaire and discussions

o Chapter 5: “Conclusion”, wraps up the study, followed by the

summary, limitation and recommendations for further study

According to him, strategic reading is defined as the ability of the reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading Good readers would know what to do when they faced difficulties in reading Fluent reading is the ability to read at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension Meaning does not rest in the reader nor does it rest

in the text The reader’s background knowledge integrates with the text to create the meaning

He emphasized “the text, the reader, fluency, and strategies combined together define the act of reading.” Nunan (2003, p.68)

According to Grabe and Stoller (2011, p.3), “Reading is the ability to

draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately.” It means that reading activity is the interaction between the

readers and the printed papers The readers try to understand what the printed papers mean

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In another book of Grabe (2009, p.14) “Reading in a second

language-moving from theory to practice” he cited some definitions of reading as the

following:

“Reading is the process of receiving and interpreting information

encoded in language form via the medium of print” or “Comprehension occurs when the reader extracts and integrates various information from the text and combines it with what is already known”

Rubin (1982) supposed that reading is the bringing of meaning to and getting of meaning from the printed page It means that reading is an active activity, the readers have to do something to get the meaning of the text

Nuttall (2005) also agreed with the role of the reader in reading activity when he stated about the meaning of the text According to him, it is not lying

in the text waiting to be passively absorbed On the contrary, the reader is actively involved and often has to work to get the meaning out

Harmer (2007) as cited by Indrayani (2014, p.16) stated that reading is useful for language acquisition; the more the students read, the better they get

at it In addition, reading also has positive effect on students’ vocabulary knowledge, on their spelling, and on their writing Reading is the skill or activity of getting information from books It is an important skill for learners Hence, who is not engaged in reading activity, they will miss new information

Although there are various definitions of reading, the researcher

follows the definition of Grabe & Stoller “Reading is the ability to draw

meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately.”

After reading, the learners must comprehend what the paper mean

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2.1.1.2 Types of classroom reading performance

It is stated by Brown (2001, p 312): “Variety of reading performance

in the language classroom is derived more from variety of the texts to which you can expose to students than from the variety from overt types of

performance There are two types of reading performance: oral reading and

 Serve as an evaluative check on bottom-up processing skills

 Double as a pronunciation check

 Serve to add some extra student participation if you want to highlight a certain short segment of a reading passage

However, this oral reading still has some disadvantages as stated by Brown (2001, p.132)

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 Oral reading is not a very authentic language activity

 While one student is reading, others can easily lose attention (or be silently rehearsing the next paragraph!)

 It may have outward appearance of student participation in reality it is mere recitation

2) Silent reading

According to Brown (2001, p.312), silent reading may be categorized into intensive and extensive reading “Intensive reading the students mainly focus on the linguistic or the semantic details of a passage Intensive reading calls students’ attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers, and other surface structure details for the purpose of understanding literal meaning, implications, rhetorical relationship, and the like.”

While “extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding of a usually somewhat longer text (book, long article, or essay, etc.) Most extensive reading is performed outside of the class time.” Brown (2001, p.313)

f) Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different grammatical forms

g Recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses

The list of macro skills are presented below:

a Recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their significance for interpretation

b Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according

to form and purpose

c Infer context that is not explicit by using background knowledge

d Infer links and connections between events, ideas, etc., deduce causes and effects, and detect such relations as main idea, supporting

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idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification

e Distinguish between literal and implied meanings

f Detect culturally specific references and interpret them in a context

of the appropriate cultural schemata

g Develop and use a battery of reading strategies such as scanning and skimming, detecting discourse makers, guessing the meaning of words from context, and activating schemata for the interpretation of text There are also another expert proposes reading skills That is Mikulecky (1990) as cited by Suriyani (2014, p.12) The details can be seen in the following table:

Automatic decoding Students are able to recognize a word at a

glance

Previewing and predicting Students are able to guess what the text is

about by looking at the text a quick once over

Identifying purposes Students are able to predict what the form and

context of the text will be

Specifying Purposes Students are able to know why the text is being

read

Scanning

Students are able to find out the specific information in a text by looking at the text very rapidly

Recognizing topics Students are able to find out what the text tells

about after reading and comprehending the

Guessing the meaning of

unknown words from the

Summarizing

Students are able to shorten the text by retaining and re-stating the main idea by leaving out details

Drawing conclusion

Students are able to put together the information from several parts of the text and induce new or additional ideas

Reading critically

Students are able to judge the accuracy of the text with respect to what the reader already knows and distinguish facts or opinions

Reading faster Students are able to read fast enough to allow

the brain to process the input

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The researcher couldn’t agree more with Suriyani (2014) when she

said: “Having a skill makes the students can solve any problem in reading a

written text The reading skills also can increase pleasure and effectiveness of reading activity.” Indeed, when the students master those skills, they can be

helped in not only subjects at school but in their daily life as well However, being a skillful reader is not easy at all It requires a hard serious practice in a long time

2.1.3 The mind map technique

2.1.3.1 Definition

According to Buzan (1994, p.59) “The Mind Map is an expression of Radiant Thinking and is therefore a natural function of the human mind It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain The mind map can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance The mind map has four essential characteristics:

1) The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image

2) The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image as branches

3) Branches comprise a key image or key word printed on an associated line Topics of lesser importance are also represented as branches attached to higher level branches

4) The branches form a connected nodal structure

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As Siriphanich stated in her study (2008) that Mind map are visual frameworks such as figures, diagrams or charts used to present structural knowledge spatially with the intention of empowering comprehension and learning Mind map are effective in terms of helping communicate information because they can clarify complex concepts into simple, meaningful displays so that learners can develop a holistic understanding of the content to be learnt

She also cited Marton and Booth’s opinion about mind map in her study Mind map is a tool for enhancing learning and thinking It provides a structure

to reveal various aspects of a story such as the sequence of events, the key points, the cause and effect, the relation of ideas and so on Students can use mind maps for revising and clarifying thoughts so as to get the deep meaning

of a story

DePotter and Hernacki (2004) also defined mind map technique and it was cited by Suryani in her study (2014), the mind mapping is a technique to use the whole brain by using visual and other graphic to create a meaningful impression

2.1.3.2 How to make mind-maps

There are several ways to make mind map from experts The first suggested was of Rose and Nicholl (2002) According to them, there are 8 steps to make

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4) Use symbols, colors, words, or pictures mainly in the mind mapping 5) Make it as interesting as possible

6) Make it full of colors

7) Repeat again two or three times to make it perfect

8) Do it by yourself

In the way suggested by DePotter and Hernacki (2004), there were some points that were the same with Rose and Nicholl above

1) Make a circle of main idea in the middle of paper

2) Make branch from the main idea to make key points Do not forget

to use a color pen to make it

3) Write the keywords or phrases in every branch and then develop them with details

4) Give additional symbols and illustrations

5) Do not forget to use capital letters

6) Write down the main ideas with the bigger letter

7) Be creative and express it freely

8) Use the unique form to show the points or ideas

9) Do not forget to make it horizontally to make a wider space

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In an article, Davies (2010) cited some recommendations when making mind map of Buzan The details are presented as follow:

1) Place an image or topic in the center using at least 3 colors

2) Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your maps

mind-3) Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters

4) Each word/image is alone and sitting on its own line

5) Connect the lines starting from the central image The central lines are thicker, organic and flowing, becoming thinner as they radiate out from the center

6) Make the lines the same length as the word/image

7) Use colors—your own code—throughout the mind-maps

8) Develop your own personal style of mind-maps

9) Use emphasis and show associations in your Mind Map

10) Keep the mind-maps clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches

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Figure 2: A sample of mind map from the book “The Mind Map book” of Buzan (1994)

2.1.3.3 The advantages of using mind map

According to Buzan (1994, p.89-90) mind map technique brings many advantages in reading:

1) Time saved by reading only relevant words and reviewing mind map notes

2) Concentration on real issues enhanced

3) Essential key words made more easily discernible

4) The brain finds it easier to accept and remember visually stimulating, multi-colored, multi-dimensional mind maps, rather than monotonous boring linear notes

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5) Clear and appropriate associations made between key words

6) The Mind Map works in harmony with the brain’s natural desire for completion or wholeness

2.2 Previous studies

The topic of using Mind maps to improve reading skills has been studied by both foreign and Vietnamese researchers In this part, the researcher just summarizes some studies that were conducted before

In 2008, a study named “Using Mind Mapping Technique to Improve

Reading Comprehension Ability of Thai EFL University Students” conducted

by Siriphanich The subjects of this study are 35 first year students In this study, the researcher employed both quantitative and qualitative data analyses from pre-and post-tests, a questionnaire, and an interview After the research, the researcher showed that the mean core of the students in the post test was higher than in the pre-test Finally, he concluded that the mind maps technique can improve the students’ ability of reading comprehension and it was considered as a useful technique and it can be applied to non-English subjects

Another study that should be mentioned was Improving Students’

Reading Skills by Using the Mind Map Technique at SMA N 1 Kretek in the Academic year of 2013-2014 by Suryani (2014) This research was an action

research that was conducted in 2 cycles The results of this study have proved that Mind map technique could improve the students’ reading skills After the researcher implemented the actions, the students have developed their skills in identifying the topic of the text They become more excited and motivated in reading lessons

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In 2014, Indrayani conducted a study entitled: “The Effectiveness of

Using Mind Mapping in Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension of Narrative Text” This is a Quasi Experimental study The aim of this research

was to find out whether mind mapping technique is effective to improve students’ reading comprehension achievement There were 70 students participated in her study The gained score of the experimental class (27.14) is higher than the control class (17.71) and the result of statistic calculation showed that the value of to (3.67) > t-table (1.66) Therefore, she concluded that mind mapping technique is effective to improve students’ achievement in reading comprehension

In Vietnam, a study was conducted in 2012 by Nguyễn Thị Thúy Vân

named: “Using mind mapping techniques to develop Ly Thuong Kiet high

school 11th grade students’ reading text summary skills.” This is a

quasi-experimental research with the participation of 80 students from 2 classes (experiment class and control class) The researcher used both test and questionnaire as the data collection methods The findings of this study showed that using mind-mapping improved students’ reading text summary skills

Another study named: “Using Mind maps to increase the students’

interest in reading comprehension at Nghe An College of Economics” was

conducted by Hồ Thị Hương in 2014 The subjects of this study were 97 students and 7 teachers of English group This study focus on 3 research questions: Firstly, the researcher wanted to investigate students’ and teacher’s attitudes towards the reading texts Secondly, the researcher wishes to explore students’ and teacher’s perception toward mind mapping Finally, she hopes

to find out if mind mapping technique can help to increase students’ interest

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in reading comprehension The interview and questionnaire were used to get data The results of the study showed that mind mapping technique really helpful on improving students’ interest in reading comprehension

One more study was conducted by Ngô Thị Phương Thảo in 2016

entitled: “Effects of Mind mapping on freshmen’s reading comprehension

ability at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport” Three main data

collection instruments were used in this study: questionnaire, test and interview The results of sample t-test have showed the disparity between the experimental class’s mean score and control class’s mean score The questionnaire and interview were used to determine the attitude of the students After the treatment, the researcher proved that the students in experimental class had made a great progress in their reading ability, but the control class had not It can be concluded that the mind mapping has great effects on students’ reading comprehension ability

Those studies above have showed that the mind maps technique was effective on improving the students’ reading competence It could be considered as one of the good ways to help students in reading However, the students at Dong Nai Technology University still have numerous of difficulties in reading They show no interest in reading lessons or even their reading skills are low Hence, this study was conducted with the hope to find out the effects of Mind maps on reading Therefrom, it can be used as a useful tool to prove the students’ reading skills at Dong Nai Technology University

2.3 Chapter summary

This chapter discussed some key issues that related to the study: theoretical review of reading, reading skills and mind maps technique

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including definitions, ways to make mind maps and its benefits This chapter also presents some related previous studies that were good references for this research In the next chapter, the researcher would present the methodology of the research consists of the setting, the sample, data instruments and data procedures of the research

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 The research settings

The study was conducted at Dong Nai Technology University The students there are trained to work in a wide range of different fields such as accounting, baking, engineering, nursing and so on They are non-English majored students so their English ability is quite low The participants of this study are second-year students who are using “Idiscover -4” as course book This university is in Dong Nai province The majority of its graduated students work for companies which located in this area Especially it as a big chance to work for foreign companies if they are good at English

Although they know that English would bring a big advantage for their future career, they seem not to be interested in learning it They learn just because it is a compulsory subject at school and their purpose is to get marks for the examination only They just focused on subjects relevant to their major instead Therefore, their English ability has not been improved so far although they have learnt English from the early age

3.2 Research Design

Because the main object of this study was to find out whether mind maps technique can improve the reading skills of the students or not, experimental research would be used in this study as Denscombe (2010, p.65) stated about experiment: “An experiment is an empirical investigation under controlled conditions designed to examine the properties of, and relationship between, specific factors.” He also pointed out the purpose of experiment:

in the independent variable affects the dependent variable The dependent variable is the factor that alters as a result of changes to the independent variable It literally depends on the independent variable Any change in the dependent variable does not affect the independent variable.” Denscombe (2010, p 66)

Thus, there are two variables in this study: independent variable and dependent variable The independent variable is using mind maps technique; the dependent variable is reading skills of the students

3.3 Population and Sample

According to Descombe (2010, p.23), population “refers to all the items

in the category of things that are being researched” and “The sample refers to the relatively small part of that (research) population who are actually chosen

to participate in the study” Therefrom, the population of this study are all of the second year students of Dong Nai Technology University 2018 – 2019 academic year and the sample of this research are the two classes: Experimental class includes 30 students learnt reading with mind maps and Control class includes 31 students learnt reading without mind maps

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The researcher has been teaching six classes in this semester, but he chose the two classes above because they have learnt with him in the previous semester They are considered as good co-operators for the study Moreover, their English ability is not very different This is good for the researcher when

he make a comparison of the two classes before and after the treatment

3.4 Data collection instruments

Because the main objects of this research was to find out whether mind maps technique could improve the students’ reading skills or not and to find the attitude of the students toward reading and mind maps technique, the researcher used two main data collection methods: test and questionnaire

3.4.1 Test

Two kinds of test were used to get data in this study: Pre-test and test They were given to both the experimental class and control class in different points of time The pre-test was given before conducting the experimental teaching and the post-test was held after the treatment The purpose was to find out whether the mind maps technique could improve the reading skills of the students or not based on the differences of post-test mean scores of the two classes

post-Both pre-test and post-test were of the same model and were arranged in

10 multiple choices questions including defining the main idea, topic sentence and some detail information of the text They were chosen from the test collection that approved by the Dean of Foreign Language Faculty at Dong Nai Technology University

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3.4.2 Questionnaire

In this study, the questionnaire was distributed to the students of experimental class before and after conducting the treatment to see what the attitude of the students toward reading and mind maps technique

According to Denscombe (2010), there are variety of ways to put the questions into questionnaire It depends on the purpose of the researcher and the advantages of each kind In this book, he just mentioned two kinds: opened questions and closed questions All of the questions in the questionnaire are closed questions because the answers in closed questions form helps the researcher in analyzing the data as Denscombe (2010, p.166) stated that: “The answers in closed questions, in fact, provide pre-coded data that can easily be analyzed.”

The questionnaire that given to students consists of 13 statements in Vietnamese language in order for them to understand easily For each statement, the students have to choose the most suitable provided answers They are totally agree, agree, not sure, disagree and totally disagree

3.5 Data analysis procedures

3.5.1 The analysis of test

The data collected from pre-test and post-test would be analyzed with SPSS program The pre-test and post-test mean scores were calculated to identify the advancement in students reading The t-test of dependent samples was also calculated to identify the significant differences between the mean scores of pre-test and post-test

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3.5.2 The analysis of questionnaire

To analyze the data of questionnaire, the researcher used the following

of data collection techniques and data analysis procedures The analysis of

collected data will be presented in the next chapter

post-4.1.1 Data description

4.1.1.1 The pre-test scores

Table 4.1.1.1 below expresses the students’ pre-test scores of both experimental class and control class There are 31 students in the control class and 30 students in the experimental class

Students The pre-test’s score of

Table 4.1.1.1: The results of pre-test score

The data in the table above expressed the pre-test scores of students

in experimental and control class The test was given at the first meeting, before conducting any treatment Both classes have 40 as the lowest score, 80

as the highest score and the median score is 60

Moreover, the mean score of the experimental class is 56.33 and the control class is 55.48 Thus, it can be concluded that the pre-test score of the two classes is almost equivalent It means that the English ability of the two classes is not very different

4.1.1.2 The post-test scores

The table below expressed the score of post-test of both experimental class and control class The number of student in experimental class is 30 and the control class is 31